Bioengineering professor Yuan Yang at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign partnered with high school teacher Cyndi Smyser to transform stroke research into an engaging high school curriculum. Supported by Yang’s NSF CAREER award, this collaboration brought MRI data into Smyser's anatomy and physiology class at University Laboratory High School. Students explored 3D brain images, identifying stroke-related lesions and gaining insights into brain structure beyond textbook diagrams. The program includes future lab visits where students will conduct experiments guided by Yang and assistant professor Caroline Cvetkovic. With plans to expand the initiative, the partnership bridges cutting-edge research and STEM education, inspiring the next generation of scientists.
“I really want anatomy and physiology to be more than just memorizing diagrams, but a lot of times that’s what it gets distilled down to,” said Smyser, who teaches biology, scientific research methodology and pre-medical sciences at the public high school located in Illinois’ northern campus. "I’m always looking for other ways to incorporate a different kind of learning.”
Smyser partnered with Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology researcher Yuan Yang to bring magnetic resonance imaging data and stroke research into the classroom. Yang's lab shared information with Smyser, who translated the research into a hands-on high school curriculum.
Yang, a professor of bioengineering, studies how the brain is impacted by strokes and other injuries. His current work sits at the intersection of biomedical engineering and medicine. He focuses on how the brain reorganizes after a stroke and the development of technologies to help people with disabilities caused by brain injuries.
Cyndi Smyser
Yang received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant in 2023. The grant supports new faculty with the potential to be academic role models in their field and emphasizes integrating education with research. Yang aimed to work with education leaders to translate his research into grade-appropriate STEAM education and outreach. As part of this, he called for local high school teachers interested in a summer partnership with the lab.
“High school teachers would gain ideas of what we do in the lab, and of our research, and bring that back to their students,” Yang said. “Then, they can include those things in classroom lectures and projects.”
Over the summer, Smyser developed a ‘mini-unit’ lesson plan containing the background information students would need to know before being introduced to Yang’s data. She hopes that this lesson plan can be shared with other high school teachers.
After the mini-unit, Smyser’s students will explore magnetic resonance imaging data of brains that have experienced strokes. By navigating these images, they can visualize the brain’s 3D structure and identify brain lesions.
“This is amazing in helping me teach anatomy, because there are parts of the brain that are hidden under other parts of the brain, and this way you can see inside,” Smyser said. “That’s really hard to express in a diagram.”
Bioengineering professor Yuan Yang
Yang and Smyser hope to expand upon the lesson and in-classroom MRI exploration with a field trip to Yang’s lab and the Physiology Teaching Lab in the Illinois Department of Bioengineering.
The two labs will showcase two sides of research. The Physiology Teaching Lab is geared toward basic science, equipped to teach concepts relevant for Illinois’ bioengineering and neural engineering programs. By visiting Yang’s lab, students will see a more translational, clinical aspect, including equipment and sample images. Students will also conduct experiments and collect data with Caroline Cvetkovic, an assistant professor of bioengineering.
Yang’s NSF grant lasts for another four years, during which he hopes to continue the partnership with University Laboratory High School and potentially expand to involve other local high schools. He intends to repeat the program next summer, with Smyser acting as a mentor for the new teacher.
In addition, Yang and Jenny Amos, a teaching professor of bioengineering, may collaborate on a new proposal to bring more community members into Illinois labs and strengthen the relationship with local K-12 schools. As other labs may not involve clinical data and patients, teachers may be able to get hands-on experience with university research, which they could translate into unique lessons for their students.